Medical implant devices used in surgical procedures can be associated with particular information to guide medical professionals before and after the surgical procedure. Each implant device carries a wealth of information that is valuable to the patient, the implant manufacturer, medical researchers, healthcare professionals, and medical facilities. However the information, which may include without limitation the implant manufacturer and manufacturer's lot number, the date and location of surgical implantation, the responsible surgeon, any medical notes, photographs, or diagrams relating to the implant, surgery, or condition, may not be adequate, properly recorded, or readily accessible for beneficial use by a healthcare professional, implant manufacturer, or medical researcher after implantation. Problems relating to poor implant records can lead to unnecessary delay or even medical error by healthcare professionals. Moreover, there are many different implant identification methods currently in place instead of a common system to allow manufacturers, distributors, and healthcare facilities and professionals to effectively track, identify, and manage implant devices and medical device recalls. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announced a program focusing on requirements for unique device identifiers for every medical implant device to address the need for a more robust implant device identification system, the details of which are incorporated by reference herein: www.fda.gov/udi as of the filing date.
In the use of elongate implants it is also beneficial to provide means for organizing, reading, inventorying, and using such implants in a therapeutic application, such as in surgical settings and the like. Consequently, there is a long felt need in the art for an implant device that enables a provider to quickly and un-invasively retrieve information from said implanted device, post implantation. There is also a long felt need for a structurally encoded implant device, such as a pin that protects patient privacy. Finally, there is a long felt need fora structurally encoded implantable device that accomplishes all of the forgoing objectives, and that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and safe and easy to use.